Asian Americans are through with the Democratic Party, at least in New York. This burgeoning community and voter base is one of the reasons why former Congressman Lee Zeldin came the closest of any Republican in recent memory to moving into the state’s governor’s mansion. He lost, but the margins weren’t as brutal as in past cycles. Democrats are saddled with an economic recession they’ve caused, spiking inflation they birthed with their abysmal economic agenda and a president whose approval ratings are in the toilet. Democrats are also not worried about crime, though Asian Americans are, which is why they’ve fled the Left.
The Big Apple is battleground zero for Democrats if they want to test the waters in reaching out to Asian voters again. Stop Asian Hate failed because white liberals tried to blame conservatives, specifically white Trump supporters, for committing vicious hate crimes against this community. The reality is most of the perpetrators were black. The narrative collapsed within days, forcing the liberal media to abandon all coverage to avoid embarrassing the Democratic Party. There’s another layer to this, which The New York Times covered in a recent piece, though they buried it: Asian communities feel Democrats work with black and Latino communities against them. With schools refusing to hand out scholastic awards to graduating classes since Asian students dominate, along with the sticky dynamics and lines are drawn in the affirmative action debate—it’s not surprising (via NYT):
One lifelong Democrat from Queens, Karen Wang, 48, who is Chinese American, said she had never felt as unsafe as she did these days. “Being Asian, I felt I had a bigger target on my back,” she said.
“My vote,” she added, “was purely a message to Democrats: Don’t take my vote for granted.”
Besides crime, Asian American voters expressed concern over a proposal by former Mayor Bill de Blasio to change the admissions process for the city’s specialized high schools.
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Although Mr. Zeldin lost, his support among Asian American voters helped lift other Republican candidates to surprise victories in down-ballot legislative races.
In one of the southern Brooklyn districts with a majority of Asian American voters, Peter J. Abbate Jr., a 36-year Democratic incumbent, lost to Lester Chang, the first Asian American Republican to enter the State Legislature.
Mr. Chang’s entrance, however, was clouded by questions about his legal residency, prompting the ruling Assembly Democrats to consider trying to expel him. They ultimately decided not to seek his expulsion, with one lawmaker, Assemblyman Ron Kim, noting that such a move would have provoked a “strong backlash from the Asian community.”
For Democrats, repairing ties with Asian American voters, who account for about 15 percent of New York City’s population and make up the state’s fastest-growing ethnic group, may be a difficult yet critical challenge given the significant role such voters are poised to play in future elections.
State Senator John Liu, a Queens Democrat, said that Mr. Zeldin’s campaign message on the crime issue “simply resonated better,” and that Democrats had to improve the way they communicated with Asian Americans, particularly on education policy.
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In Assembly District 49 in Brooklyn, for example, which includes portions of Sunset Park and Dyker Heights, and is majority Asian, Mr. Zeldin won 61 percent of the vote, even though it appears white voters turned out to vote in higher numbers. Mr. Zeldin won by similar margins in a nearby Assembly district that is heavily Chinese and includes Bensonhurst and Gravesend.
In Queens, Mr. Zeldin managed to obtain 51 percent of the vote in Assembly District 40, which includes Flushing and is about 70 percent Asian: mostly Chinese and Korean immigrants.
Support for Mr. Zeldin, who came within six percentage points of beating Ms. Hochul, was palpable across those neighborhoods before Election Day, with much of the pro-Republican enthusiasm appearing to grow organically. And posts in support of Mr. Zeldin spread broadly across WeChat, a Chinese social media and messaging app widely used by Chinese Americans.
Interviews with Asian American voters revealed that their discontent with the Democratic Party was, in many cases, deep-rooted and based on frustrations built over years. Many of them described becoming disillusioned with a party that they said had overlooked their support and veered too far to the left. They listed Democratic priorities related to education, criminal justice and illegal immigration as favoring other minority groups over Asian Americans, and blamed Democratic policies for a rise in certain crimes and for supporting safe injection sites.
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“Why should I support Democrats who discriminate against me?” said Lailing Yu, 59, a mother from Hong Kong whose son graduated from a specialized high school in 2018. “We see Democrats are working for the interest of African Americans and Latino communities against Asian communities.”
I see this as a prime territory where the Left could eat its base. They’ve already decided they don’t need the backbone of their coalition: white working-class voters. The competitiveness Democrats enjoyed here allowed the party to dominate in national elections. Barack Obama cruised to victory in 2008, especially in 2012, because he won a healthy share of white working-class voters. He was able to connect to them. The working class was the backbone for Democrats, who have opted to surgically remove that bloc since they’re too white, conservative, and uncultured. That’s the arrogance of the Left, which has become more urban, college-educated, wealthy, white, and technocratic. They have black and Latino communities, but they’re relegated to the outer party status. If we’re going to rehash Orwell due to Trump, college-educated whites are the O’Brien, the inner party members, while everyone else is the outer party. Non-white voters might be the loyal soldiers, but the affluent progressives control the agenda and messaging due to their ability to fill the war chests of Democrats. That’s political apartheid.
I doubt Asian Americans will receive as much attention from the national Democratic Party apparatus. They don’t care, but they might if Republicans win some key races in this heavily blue state.
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